Hooked

Chapter Eleven

I felt grains of sand between my fingers, and toes. It was also weaved through my hair. When you feel sand, you feel warmth and happiness. It's a hard feeling to forget. Grainy, but soft when with many other grains of sand - like a never-ending blanket.

But this sand was different. It's hard to explain, but instead of that sleepy, content feeling you would normally get, I woke up to worry riddling it's way through every fiber of my being. I jolted upright, hearing sea gulls squawk out, flying above the sea that calmly rocked back and forth not ten feet below them.

Speaking of flying...

What exactly happened last night?
I was still in a confused state when I looked around to see that I was on a large island. I wiped off my hands, looking toward the horizon. Relief sank through me, and my muscles relaxed.

I was away from the ship, Hook, and Peter. But I was also far away from Smee. He was really the only person in Neverland whom I thought had a decent heart.

The sea was a bright blue color, and you could see every living creature under the waves. I sighed, and looked behind me, where a dense forest was swaying with the wind.

I heard a sudden song make its way to my ears. It was so angelic, it made me want to fall asleep again.

I looked around, and suddenly felt a spray of the ocean, and the singing became louder. It sounded like someone was singing the word "world".

I looked and looked, then... Off in the distance, I saw a girl... No, not a girl at all... A mermaid.

She had a girl's upper half, but a fish's tail. Seashells as a bra, and striking red hair. Definitely a mermaid.

"Hey!" I shouted, shocked by the confidence in my voice.

The mermaid looked toward me and froze. The wind rushed through her loose hair, as she just stared at me, wondering what my next move would be.

"I won't tell anyone about you, I promise. I'm just confused," I yelled over the waves.

Just as I did, she disappeared off of the rock, hurrying.

Thinking that she left, I started to stand.
But then...

"Tell anyone, and you're getting your throat filled with sand and saltwater."

I turned around to see that the mermaid was on the shore, daring me with her eyes to tell everyone of her existence.

I nodded, "I promise I won't. You don't have to threaten me to know that I will keep my word."

She looked me over once or twice, "Fine. Why would you want to talk to me?"

I smiled sweetly, trying to keep my cheesy grin going, trying not to break into a serious face, "I am confused," I said through gritted teeth.

She cocked her head to the side, slapping her tail down in the water, "About what?" She said impatiently.

"Where am I?"

She chuckled a sound that reminded me of an eel. "Neverland, Land of the Lost Boys."

Lost Boys. Peter mentioned them to me once. Was that what that boy from last night was? A Lost Boy?

"What... What dangers are on this island?"

"On the island? Peter Pan, the fairies, the Lost Boys, the elves, the dwarves, witches, wizards, the natives... The land itself; deserts, mostly... But I wouldn't worry about those things... It's mainly the things off of the island that you should worry about. The fish... Sirens... Hook... Sea Monsters..." She paused pointedly, "Mermaids..."

I rolled my eyes, "Ive already met two of those things that are off the island... They don't seem so dangerous to me."

She flicked her eyes from left to right, then, before I knew it, she got hold of my ankle, her talons sinking into my skin.

I yelped and struggled away from her, but she kept slinking forward, her eyes now dark, as her boney hands reached for me. I backed away, the sand unsettling me even more. I grabbed a handful of sand, and threw it towards her face.

She screeched, making a sound only a demon could muster from its mouth. Her hands reached up to her face, her eyes clearly burning from the salty grains sinking into the sockets, and hiding behind her eyeballs.

She bared her surprisingly sharp teeth at me, then slowly backed into the water again.

"See?" I said, trying to not sound like I was out of breath, "Harmless."

She scowled at me, her lips forming a thin line. "My friends are better at killing. I think too much of the person's possible past to do too much damage."

'Really? I didn't even think of the possibility that you could be thinking of my past when you were basically trying to assault me!' I thought to myself. I made an exasperated sound, "What's your name?"

She seemed taken aback, "You... Want to know my name?"

"Yes. Mermaids do have names, don't they?"

She looked slightly offended, but she finally answered, "Ariel. What's your name? Humans do have names, don't they?"

At first I thought she was mocking me, but when I looked at her, she was purely curious. "Yes, we do... My name is Madeline."

She smiled ecstatically, and clasped her hands together, gasping, "You mean, the Princess Madeline?" She seemed like a teenager.

"How do you know about me?"

"Sound waves travel faster underwater, Madeline."

"What...?"

She rolled her eyes exasperatingly, "News spreads fast in the ocean."

"So-" I was interrupted by the sound of a certain teenage mermaid gasping worriedly.

"What?" I asked.

She didn't respond, only hurried into the ocean, her head barely above the water, her hair spreading around her like a mane on a lion. Then she carefully placed herself behind a rock on the shore.

I looked to the right, where she was looking before she hid herself in the Neverland Ocean.

There, was a man dressed in a black shirt, khaki pants that reached his shins, and a red belt or scarf of some sort wrapped around his waist. He was sprawled out on the sand a ways away from me, his black hair covered in soft yellow grains of sand, his lips chapped, skin pale. Unconscious.

"Who's that?" I asked.

She whispered, "I don't know, really. I've only seen him on his ship before. With his crew. He seems to be one of the humans that live on this island. Last time I saw him, his ship was set on fire by Hook. I guess his crew died," she shrugged.

"Ariel, do you have... Feelings for him?"

She snapped her head back up to me, "Me? Like a human? What kind of nasty creature do you think I am? My father wouldn't have it, for sure!"

"Who's your father?"

"Poseidon."

"...of course." Before she could glare at me, I asked, "Why should he decide on who you like or not?"

"Because if I like him, then I would be banished from the sea. Plus... He wouldn't like me back. Even if I did like him, I mean."

"You like him."

"Okay... So maybe I do! But that doesn't change the fact that I could never be with him! I live in the ocean, he lives on land. He has legs, I have a tail. It wasn't meant to be."

I shrugged, "Maybe it is, but you are too defiant to realize it."

She paused, thinking, "I'll see you later."

With that, she swam away, into the depths of the ocean.